PRESERVING Boston Common should mean much more than keeping the grass green ("Large events may become uncommon at city's beloved park," Page B1, March 20). The Common was America 's very first public grounds and the city should not regulate away the right of the people to assemble peaceably there for the sake of a greener lawn. If greener grass is what the city wants, they can achieve that by not allowing dogs to urinate on the grounds. Boston Parks Department maintenance people have told anyone who asks that dog urine, not peaceable assemblies, is what damages the grass most.

A couple of dogs playing at the Arboretum today.

Join Boston Pride for the first-ever Paws For Pride on Saturday, June 2, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Faneuil Hall.

This all-new Puppy Pride will feature a Community Costume Contest with prizes for "Best in Size" (small, medium and large dogs) and a grand prize for "Best in Show." There's a limit to 100 dogs so pre-registration is strongly recommended!

Click here to Register! (and to see the Contest Rules.)

Last night, the Boston Parks Department hosted a public meeting to discuss renovations to the Phillips Street Park (which is on Phillips Street between Garden and Anderson on Beacon Hill).

The meeting was led by Angie Murray, project manager, from Boston Parks. Also in attendance: Claire Couric Batchelor from CBA Landscape Architects.

Ms. Murray is planning a three-meeting planning process. During this first meeting, she opened the discussion to the audience to discuss what is liked and not liked about the park.

Universal consensus from the group:

Big fight over whether dog owners should be allowed any time to let their dogs off leash at Winthrop Park. The Park and Recreation Commission is involved. So is the Brookline Green Dog Committee (What, no Blue Dog Committee?). Even Brookline's relations with neighboring communities are at stake: Are Boston and Newton dogs sneaking in? And if so, should Brookline dog owners be forced to pay for leash stickers to prove residence?

... Representatives from both camps attended Monday's Park and Recreation Commission meeting, which unintentionally turned into a mini-public hearing on the matter and a warm-up for what promises to be a heated battle in December as both sides said they will refuse to back down ...

On Boonville Blog, Jeff sees town government run amok:

... This, my friends, is local government. It is run by people with too much damn time on their hands. I can't help but thinking that the people trying to limit the hours just need to relax and let these dogs, who live in a cramped city, have their 4 hours a day to run around and sniff. ...

Earlier:
Should dogs be allowed to run wild in state parks?

DogBoston is aghast at the possibility the state might require dogs to be leashed at all times in state parks. Instead, the group wants certain areas in parks set aside so dogs can form killer packs socialize and frolic.

As a non-dog-owner, I have to say, short of finding an opossum staring at you from your trash, nothing quite stuns you into sudden wakefulness like having a giant, unleashed dog bound right at you on what you thought was a peaceful saunter along a path in the woods at Millennium Park (which granted, is not a state park, but still).

We have our beach back! The tourists and teens are gone, very gone. The beach is empty. To windy for all but the hardiest wind surfers - is that you Senator Kerry - and the local dog walkers.

Byron loves the beach, he enjoys digging in the sand, barking at the seagulls, and rolling in all those smelly things the ocean specializes in throwing on to the beach. Our beach...

Just wanted to drop a note here for the launch of the revamped dog boston web site.

http://www.dogboston.com/blog/